I bought my 1998 4Runner back in 98 at Roswell Toyota. They have great service and would highly recommend them again to anyone.

I just ordered my 2003 4Runner LTD 4WD from the Toyota Mall of Georgia because they are closer to home. So far the dealer has been great to deal with. I even think on Thursday's if you take your car in for service, you get a free back massage. Ladies get their nails done too. I'll let ya know if the massage is worth anything after I get my new ride

Is Toyota Mall of GA fairly new? I have never been there. Are they trying to compete with Atlanta Toyota for being a big volume dealer?

My veiw on service and sales on the Northwest side of Atlanta is Cobb County Toyota is poor and Marietta Toyota is good. On one warranty repair Marietta Toyota also fixed a small problem that I thought was not covered by warranty. As far as Cobb County the sales are in the pits and I have heard of bad problems with their service from people I know and trust, one being my Dad.

Hey Peter,

When I was originally looking for my 1998 4Runner, I did go to Cobb Toyota to check iit out. The salesman was real arrogant and I left. 2 Weeks later I bought my 4Runner at Roswell Toyota which was a smooth sale. The following week later, the salesman from Cobb Toyota called me back to see if I was still interested, and when I told him I bought a 4Runner at another dealer, the guy started yelling at me. I would NEVER go back to Cobb Toyota or recommend anyone going there.

As for Toyotal Mall of Georgia, they are fairly new and I assume they want to be the volume dealer. They actually have another dealership in Conyers, but I don't remember the name.

Now with all that said.....I am still waiting of my 2003 4Runner I had to special ordered from Toyota Mall of Georgia. :-)

Soctt

Just curious, it has been about a month since you posted the good news about "Mall of Georgia". I just saw their commerical today and I was wondering if you ever got your 4Runner? Are they still on your "good" list?

Hey Peter,

They are still on my good side, but I haven't seen my 4Runner yet. I am hoping they will have it in late March. That will be 3 months waiting. But they have kept me informed on the status, so I can not complain.

Maybe with some luck, the car will get here sooner. :-)

Scott

4Runner2003, did you get your 4Runner yet? It is the last day of March. If not, will it come soon?

Hey Peter,

Not yet. The dealer says the will not know when the truck delivery date is until they see it on the ship coming over. They said the next ship date is 4/10. If it is not on this ship I am cancelling the order for the truck. I find it hard to believe that they can not give me an exact date yet. Also, they keep saying allocation. I am saying Special Order. Then they say yes I have a special order, but then in the next breath they say we have to wait to see what is on their allocation.

We'll see what happens. But I am giving them until April 10th to give me exact dates. If they can not provide that to me, then :flmthrwr:

4Runner2003, I am going to give you my 2 cents worth, whether you need it or not. I once special ordered a car and it never worked out. They kept putting it off and I went shopping, only after I found a better deal did I cancel my order.

Now I noticed this Sunday Atlanta paper had 4Runners $1000 below factory invoice at Sandy Springs Toyota. What ever that means, in real life???

So my 2 cents worth, probably just 1 1/2 cents worth, is this, keep your options open. The economy is still down, 4Runners aren't selling great. Go ahead and look at some dealers including your old Roswell Toyota and don't expect to change yet, just look. I bet you might be surprised at what is out there. If your not desperate, that is when to shop.

If your 4Runner does not come in or if you found a better deal then you could could cancel. On the other hand, if your 4Runner comes in you just wasted some time. Since their is a cold snap here in Atlanta, why not go out for a afternoon? ;)

Thanks Peter,

Trust me, I have been looking not only in Georgia, but FL, SC, NC and AL. The problem seems to be the options I want (Black Limited V8 4x4) with NAV, Rear-Air Susp, and NO side air bags. That is why I special ordered it. One of my friends in Indiana said he saw one with the options I want, and I luckily have a business trip there this week, so if they have it, I am buying it there and driving it back.

I am not sure what they are doing, and in all fairness, maybe there has been some delay, but for 43k, I want the car like I want it But know they are offering the $1000 cash back, so hopefully they will work out some deal.

Ok, well I originally posted that I was happy with the Mall of Georgia. Today, I still have no 4Runner and it has been 4 months. I called today and they were giving me the run around that you can not special order from Toyota. You Preference and Toyota determines when they ship the car. Basically, I was being told a bunch of BS because they also could not provide any paperwork that they special ordered or "preferenced" my order.

Also I was talking to the General Manager and I asked to speak to the owner, the GM stated that the owner would not talk to me because they pay the GM to handle customer concerns. BS........

So, if I was anyone looking to purchase a new Toyota, don't buy one through these guys. Now I have to go through the whole process again at another "Preferred Dealer". And even worse, my credit union is offering 3.9% until the end of the month.......Here goes another 4 months waiting on my 4Runner.

Scott

Sorry to hear about your troubles. Ten years ago Kelly Toyota teated me bad and I wrote Toyota. It didn't do any good.

The trouble with Atlanta is that 80% of the 4Runners are 2WD. You may not get exactly what you want. On the good side, I think deals are better now.

I did notice one dealership, Atlanta Toyota is getting a black 4WD Limited on the 15th with these options:

Rear Air Suspension W/ - NFAT $1,400
Rear Air Suspension W/



Jbl Synthesis 3 In 1 With Nav - NVAT $2,325
Jbl Synthesis 3 In 1 With Nav



Carpet Mats And Trunk Mat - PV60 $225
Carpet Mats And Trunk Mat



Daytime running lights - RLAT $40
Daytime running lights



Power Tilt/slide Moonroof - SRAT $900
Power Tilt/slide Moonroof



Curtain & Side Airbags W/ - GYAT $500
Curtain & Side Airbags
---------------------------------------------------

As you can see it has side air bags. I bought from there and I dealt with the fleet manger, but I have no idea if he is still there. Let me know if I can help in any way. I'll keep looking on the internet.

Hey Peter,

I saw that one. It was a special order. I was trying to get that one. What makes me mad is this car was ordered when I ordered mine.

Scott

I am glad your still looking. Atlanta Toyota can be real jerks too. I recommend dealing with a manager. Either way plan on being there for 4 hours, they like sqeezing every penny out of you they can.

Let me know what you can find.

I called the owner of the Mall of Georgia and his secretary was so far great. She told me, yes there is something wrong and she will be following up with me this afternoon. So we'll see. Bottom line is I WANT MY NEW RUNNER

I should have gone to Roswell Toyota in the first place. They always treated me great. Just the Mall of Georgia was closer to home. You learn from your mistakes I quess

This is the e-mail response I got back from Toyota

Subject
Special Order 4Runner

Discussion Thread

Response (Kasra) 04/10/2003 09:55 AM

Thank you for contacting Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.
We appreciate your interest in the 4Runner, and apologize for the difficulty experienced in trying to find your vehicle of choice.

We are sorry, we are not equipped to take special orders for specific vehicles. Vehicle allocation is based on the geographical area in which they are marketed. Our dealerships and distributors are prepared to take your request and make every attempt to obtain the desired vehicle.

If the dealership is unable to locate the vehicle of choice, they may submit a preference request for your desired vehicle. This preference request does not guarantee you will receive the vehicle with the exact options requested, and may create an extended wait-time.

You can be sure that Toyota is committed to providing the best possible service at our dealerships and to making the sales experience a favorable one. We encourage each dealership to maintain a professional level of performance at all times, and we were sorry to learn that you felt the service you received was less than satisfactory.

In the interest of customer satisfaction, we have contacted the Customer Relations Manager at Toyota Mall of Georgia to assist you with your concerns. The Customer Relations Manager will contact you by the end of the business day 04/15/03.

In the event you do not receive contact from the dealership by this date, please contact us with file #200304100371.

It is through correspondence such as yours that we are able to continue to improve our dealership services, and we sincerely appreciate the time you have taken to bring this matter to our attention.

National Customer Relations

Customer (Scott) 04/09/2003 08:16 PM


How does the Southeast "Special Order" a new car. I thought I special ordered a 2003 Black 4Runner Limited V8 4WD at the end of December. Well today, the Toyota Mall of Georgia stated that you can not "Special Order" however you wait for a "Preferred" option. Not sure what the General Manager was telling me. I am assuming they are waiting on a car to come in from their allocation instead of telling me the truth.

I have currently a 98 4Runner and to be honest, this is the best car I have had and my previous dealer "Roswell Toyota" was awesome to deal with, however, the Mall of Georgia keeps coming up with excuses, and if I was not a previous Toyota owner, I would completely forget about Toyota and go with another brand.

With all that said, is there any way to see what and/or if they actually did order my 4Runner back in December?

Thanks in advance for your help!!